Just days before the primary, Hawaiian election officials were thrown a curve ball when two key staffers in the office, the acting elections administrator and the person in charge of voter registration, reported that they would be out on sick leave until after the election.[2] Additionally, temporary staffer Kui Kama, who worked the 2008 and 2010 elections in the Hawaiian election office, resigned on August 8 and submitted a resignation letter that said, "I refuse to be a part of something that will fail, because I know it will."[2] According to Jeffrey Kuwada, the Maui County Clerk since 2009, "It is my personal opinion that the operation of a successful primary election in Hawaii County is doubtful, if more election personnel fail to report to work."[2]

Hawaii County Clerk Jamae Kawauchi stated on August 9th, "We're fine, we're doing OK," despite closing the office for a day in July without warning to audit voter registration rolls[2] and reportedly not responding to state elections officials' requests for a detailed update for nearly an entire week.[2] Kawauchi was appointed to the Hawaii County clerk's job in 2010 and has not worked an election before.[2] Despite the concerns, Kawauchi said back-up staff have been shadowing staffers for several weeks and have assumed their responsibilities.[2]

Contested Primaries in Hawaii -- August 11, 2012

U.S. House (2 seats)

State Legislature (76 seats)

Total Democratic Contested Primaries

2 (100%)

31 (40.79%)

Total Republican Contested Primaries

2 (100%)

7 (9.21%)

Congress

U.S. House

Hawaii has a total of 2 seats on the ballot in 2012. A total of 14 candidates have filed to run, made up of 7 Democratic challengers, 6 Republican challengers, and 1 incumbent. A total of 355 U.S. House seats have held primaries. Thus far, 57.46% of possible primaries have been contested. Hawaii's contested figure of 100% (4 out of 4 possible party primaries) is more competitive than the national average.

Bob Marx’s campaign raised $49,135, of which $38,500 came from the candidate. Marx’s campaign had $384,466 in total contributions but a cash-on-hand deficit of $802.

Esther Kiaaina's campaign reported $21,022 in contributions, which included $12,122 in loans and donations from the candidate. Kiaaina’s campaign reported $128,889 in total contributions and ended the cycle with $5,246 in cash on hand.

Republican candidate Linda Lingle responded to the surprise endorsement, critcizing Young as "controversial" and alluding to his past ethics issues.[7]Lingle's campaign manager Bob Lee said in a statement following Hirono's release of the new ad, "It should be troubling to the people of Hawaii that Mazie Hirono's first attempt to convey any example of bipartisanship is a video advertisement with one of the House of Representatives's most controversial members, who even Mazie's fellow Democrats have criticized on a range of ethics and spending issues."[7]

As of July 13, 2012 Lingle (R) reportedly raised $1.1 million in the second quarter[8] and Hirono (D) raised $941,000 and at the end of the cycle had $2 million cash-on-hand.[9]

State legislature

There are 76 total legislative seats with elections in 2012 -- 25 Senate seats and 51 House seats.

There are 31 (40.79%) contested Democratic primaries and 7 (9.21%) contested Republican primaries. Thus, there will be 38 (25.0%) races tomorrow with at least two candidates on the ballot. The 25.0% figure of total contested primaries in Hawaii is higher than the current national contested average of 19.38%.

Senate

Nine Senate incumbents - all Democrats - face a primary challenge. Samuel Slom, the only Republican incumbent, does not have a primary challenge but will face a challenge in the general election.

District 2: With incumbent Gilbert Kahele (D) running for re-election in District 1, five candidates - 4 Democrats and 1 Republican - are competing in the primary to fill his open seat. Bob Herkes, Wendell Ka'ehu'ae'a, Russel Ruderman and Gary Safarik will square off on the Democratic side. Herkes, who currently represents District 5 in the House, previously served in the Senate from 1988 to 1992. Safarik is a former member of the Puna council, Kaehuaea is a local video producer, and Ruderman is the owner of the Island Naturals Market and Deli. It is expected to be a close race.[10]

District 11: The battle for the Democratic nod is incumbent vs. incumbent as current District 11 incumbent Carol Fukunaga goes up against District 10 incumbent Brian Taniguchi. Both long time senators who previously served in the House, Fukunaga has held her seat for 19 years, while Taniguchi has had his for 17.

District 25: Freshman Sen. Pohai Ryan will face two challengers in the primary as she seeks re-election - Levani Lipton and Laura Thielen. Thielen was a director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources under former RepublicanGovernorLinda Lingle (R). Thus, she was unable to run for office as a Democrat, because she had not been a member of the party in good standing for at least six months. She filed anyway and is now facing internal punishment from the Democratic Party, but her candidacy was not challenged in court.[11]

District 33: An incumbent vs. incumbent battle, District 33 incumbent Heather Giugni takes on District 34 incumbent K. Mark Takai. Giugni was appointed to her seat in February of this year to fill the vacancy left by Tom Okamura, who resigned due to health concerns. Takai, meanwhile, has served since 1995, including a stint as Vice-Speaker of the House.

District 48: In another incumbent vs. incumbent battle, District 49 incumbent Pono Chong will face District 47 incumbent Jessica Wooley. Chong, who first assumed office in 2005, currently serves as Majority Leader. Wooley has held her seat since 2009. She previously served as Hawaii Deputy Attorney General from 2000-2003.[14]